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Gudea, ruler of
the city of
Lagash in
Southern
Mesopotamia in
the late 3rd
millennium. An
inscription
engraved on his
robe indicates
that it is
dedicated to the
god Ningishzida
.
MESOPOTAMIA
I) INTRODUCTION
Some of the world's earliest and greatest civilizations developed
in the ancient region known as Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia is a
region, not a country and the name is applied to many rich
cultures that existed in ancient Iraq. These included the
Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and many other cultures.
Mesopotamia is a Greek word that means “land between the rivers”,
referring to the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers.
Mesopotamian
history extends from the emergence of urban societies in the 4th
millennium BC to the conquest of Alexander the Great in the 4th
century BC.
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1) Read the text on the preceding page. Are the following
sentences true or false?
a)
b)
c)
d)
The first cities emerged in Mesopotamia around 4000 B.C.
Mesopotamia was a country in the Middle East.
A number of different peoples lived in Mesopotamia.
Mesopotamia refers to a region now occupied by modern
Iraq.
e) The arrival Alexander the Great marks the end of the
history of Mesopotamia.
2) Examples of Mesopotamian art. Match the text below with the
correct pictures:
a)
c)
a) “The Standard of Ur” (2500 BC): a box decorated with
pictures. This is an example of Sumerian art.
b) “The Head of an Akkadian King” (2200 BC): illustrates the
artistic sophistication of Akkadian bronze sculpture.
c) “Winged bulls”: Human headed winged bulls stood as
sentinels at the royal gateways of Assyrian palaces.
d) A detail from the “Ishtar Gate”: the Babylonians excelled
at brightly coloured glazed tiles.
b)
d)
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3) Read the text below and find out more about Mesopotamia.
The first people to live in the area of Mesopotamia were nomads,
or people who travelled from place to place hunting and gathering
food. In about 4500 BC a group of people settled in southern
Mesopotamia and because of the fertile soil began to farm the
land. They constructed irrigation systems, developed trade with
other groups, and created a civilization that came to be known as
Sumer.
Two very important advances in the history of civilization
happened in Sumer during the 4th millennium BC. The first was the
birth of the city. The Sumerian cities included Eridu, Kish, Uruk,
Lagash, and Ur. The second advancement, about 3000 BC, was the
invention of writing. The Sumerians created a picture-writing
system of writing cuneiform. In this system, symbols were pressed
into soft clay tablets.
One of the most powerful kings of Sumer was Sargon, who ruled a
city –state in the region of Akkad, north of Sumer. Sargon united
all the city-states of the region in about 2300 BC. After Sargon’s
dynasty Mesopotamia was ruled by a combination of Akkadians and
Sumerians.
By about 1900 BC the city of Babylon became the capital of
Mesopotamia. Because the city was so powerful, the whole region
became known as Babylonia. The kingdom reached the height of its
glory under Hammurabi, who ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC. Hammurabi
is best known for putting in writing a code of laws for his
people.
Babylonia began to lose power after about 1600 BC and the city of
Assur in northern Mesopotamia began its rise. The region came to
be known as Assyria. The Assyrian Empire fell when the capital
Nineveh was conquered in 612. Babylon enjoyed a second period of
glory under Nebuchadnezzar II, but this period came to an end in
539.
Persia controlled Mesopotamia from 539 to 331 BC, when it was
conquered by the Greek king Alexander the Great. After the death
of Alexander the land fell to a series of peoples. Finally, Muslim
Arabs took over in the 7th century AD.
3
a) Make a list of the cities mentioned in the text and find them
on the map below:
b) Complete the text below with the names of these cities:
AKKAD, ASSUR, BABYLON, NINIVEH, UR
i)
__________
An ancient city of Sumer, southern
Mesopotamia.
ii) __________
An important city in ancient Assyria,
on the eastern bank of the Tigris.
iii) __________
One of the most famous cities in
antiquity. It became the capital of
Babylonia.
iv) __________
A city in central Mesopotamia, situated
on the bank of the Euphrates.
v)
One of the capitals of ancient Assyria,
situated on the western bank of the
river Tigris
__________
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c) Find the names of four kings in the text on page 3. Complete
the text under the illustrations with correct names.
Bust believed to be
that of __________ of
Akkad, was an
Akkadian king famous
for his conquest of
the Sumerian citystates (24th and 23rd
centuries BC).
Head believed to
represent _________.
He ruled Babylon from
1792 – 1750 B.C.
A cameo of _________
a ruler of Babylon,
who reigned c. 605 BC
– 562 BC.
d) Read the text again and put the following sentences in the
correct chronological order.
a. fall of the Assyrian empire
1.
b. old Babylonian period
2.
c. earliest evidence of human culture in
3.
Mesopotamia
4.
d. beginning of the Hellenistic period
5.
e. first known cities emerge
6.
f. neo-babylonian period
7.
g. a writing system is created
8.
h. Sargon begins Akkadian rule
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